The present invention relates generally to tape recorders, and more particularly to magnetic tape recorders of the type using cassette tapes. Still more specifically, the invention relates to a device for cleaning the magnetic head and the driven capstan roller of a tape recording and/or playback unit of the type using cassette tapes.
The type of magnetic-tape recording and/or playback unit which is by far the most popular at this stage of development in this field, is the one using cassette tapes according to the Philips system. Such cassette tapes have a housing which is placed into the cassette recording and/or playback unit, which will hereafter be called the unit for short, and which accommodates in its interior two hubs into which drive spindles of the unit extend through openings in the cassette housing. The tape is convoluted about one of the hubs and is connected at its opposite ends to the respective hubs so that, when the hub is rotated on which the tape is not yet convoluted, the tape will be withdrawn from the other hub and wound unto the first one. The tape is made to pass an open side of the cassette housing where it is engaged by a driven capstan roller to aid in its advancement, and where it is also in contact with a magnetic head for recording and/or playback purposes. The capstan roller and the magnetic head come in contact with the tape when the mechanism of the unit is placed either into "recording" or into "playback" mode.
All of this is very well known and is mentioned here merely by way of recapitulation.
The type of arrangement outlined above has found extremely wide acceptance throughout the world, and generally is very reliable and satisfactory. Prolbems do, however, occassionally occur, and perhaps the most common and annoying of these is improper recording and/or playback due to contamination of the tape-engaging surface of the magnetic head and of the periphery of the capstan roller. Over a period of time, the oxide material on the tape will leave a residue on the tape-engaging surface of the magnetic head, and also on the outer peripheral surface of the driven capstan roller, and this will cause -- in the case of the head -- improper recording and/or playback, and in the case of the capstan roller it will result in improper advancement of the tape.
While various approaches have been proposed to overcome these problems, none of the suggested solutions have been found to be particularly satisfactory, primarily because they have all been too complicated and not simple enough to use nor reliable enough in operation.